For the record, I am a stalwart believer that God created this earth and everything in it. Not only am I a believer, but I know this with every fiber of my being. How could I not believe without merely walking out my door each day, feeling the sun on my face and seeing how miraculous life actually is? As Alma eloquently states, "...All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is Supreme Creator." (Alma 30:44)That being said, the scientist in me is a proponent of not teaching Intelligent Design in science classes. Now before you call me a hypocrite, hear me out. Intelligent Design is not a theory based on scientific evidence and cannot be tested by quantitative means. It is merely an idea of how life came about, based on observations of "irreducible complexity" and backed by various religious beliefs. Based on the nature of science parameters, it is not a scientific theory and, therefore, doesn't have place in a science class. This does not mean that I don't think that is is a valuable concept to be taught, just in a different setting.
After watching videos and reading articles about the controversy and its issues of constitutionality, I cannot help but wonder how all of this blew up into such a big controversy in the first place. After all, we are a nation of free thought. Even God has given us the gift of agency, to act and choose for ourselves. When, as parents and teachers, do we allow our children to start thinking for themselves? When is it appropriate for us to quit spoon feeding them ideas and give them room to piece the puzzle together for themselves? I'm no expert on anything of this sort, but I'd like to think that we are raising individuals who can reason for themselves. I hate controversy. It makes my head hurt. Why can't we all just get along?
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